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James Doolittle
Miami University, Ohio
Subject Listing - Psychology
Advisor: Dr. Rose Marie Ward
Friday, Poster Session 4, Presentation Kiosk 5 A, Health & Fitness Center
A HEALTHY COLLEGE MINDSET? THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN HEALTH BEHAVIORS
The current study examined the relationship between smoking habits and certain other health behaviors (e.g. alcohol use, dietary intake, dental care, and regular exercise) at two time points over the course of one academic semester. It was hypothesized that smoking would impact the prevalence of these other health behaviors. The variables were examined utilizing the Stage of Change Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983; Prochaska et al, 1994). The variables of interest were smoking habits, alcohol consumption, marijuana use, diet, regular exercise, and dental hygiene. Smoking habits were based on number of cigarettes smoked on average per day and number of days per week (with twenty cigarettes equaling one pack). Alcohol consumption was analyzed based on number of alcoholic beverages consumed on average per day and the number of days per week. Marijuana use was measured using the stage of change model. Dietary intake was measured using frequency of high-fat food intake, high-salt food intake, and fruit and vegetable intake. Regular exercise was measured using the definition that regular exercise is any planned physical activity done to increase physical fitness that is performed 3 or more times per week for 20 or more minutes per session at a level that increases your breathing rate and causes you to break a sweat (Marcus, Selby, Niaura, & Rossi, 1992; Norman, Benisovich, Nigg, & Rossi, 1998). Last, dental hygiene was measured using brushing habits. In order to examine the relationships among the variables, Structural Equation Modeling was utilized using EQS (Bentler, 1990). Approximately 500 students were involved in the study for credit in their introduction to psychology class. Evidence from this study can be used to tailor health (e.g. smoking) intervention techniques to college students based on other health behaviors and to show the progress of certain health behaviors in a college setting.
Advisor: Dr. Rose Marie Ward, Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Education, Health and Sports Studies, Miami University, Oxford, OH